


A Shift in Perspective

by eyrist, Lia404



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Mementos (Persona 5), Reverse Goro Day, Role Reversal, Sass and Snark, hanging upside down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24553558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eyrist/pseuds/eyrist, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lia404/pseuds/Lia404
Summary: 6/5 is 5/6 in some parts of the world... time for Reverse Goro Day.In which Goro's point of view is upside down, in every literal way. And Kurusu might be greyer than he thought.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	A Shift in Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Reverse Goro Day was a silly little thing Lia created last year to celebrate 5/6 in those countries that dare use day/month formatting...  
> This year, for Reverse Goro Day 2k20, Eyrist joined forces with her and together, they made the Ultimate Reverse!
> 
> We both hope you'll enjoy this slightly crazy prompt that became bigger than intended...

_ It would have been nice to get a warning that there were cliffs in Mementos _ .   
Goro winced, his head throbbing with pain.   
He didn’t know where the  _ Hell _ in Mementos he even was, how he got there, how he’d  _ get out _ , but there were a few things coming to him:

One, the dark, concrete walls of Mementos felt as if they closed around him. 

Two, the blood rushing to his head made it harder and harder to think with each second that passed. 

Three, there was a sharp edge that protruded from the side of the cliff, on which he was (helplessly) hanging off of. 

_ Riiiiip  _

...maybe for not much longer. 

A part of Goro’s mind told him to check how far down the fall would be, his eyes trailing what laid above (under?) him. Suffice to say, it was a  _ pretty _ big fall, if only judging by the absolute darkness that looked as if it swallowed the pit that laid waiting for him—maybe even ready to enclose around his body if he didn’t think on his feet here. 

He chanced a glance at the distance between him and the ledge, having to do a careful semi-crunch up just to be able to see where his costume got snagged by his leg. 

Well—  
Not  _ exactly _ on his feet. 

_ Why didn't I use third eye already? _

The thought came and went as fast as it arrived, a blurry dash of words in his mind. There was a part of him that wondered where it even came from, confusion settling in what wasn’t already pre-occupied by the growing uneasiness of his currently-worsening predicament. What  _ was _ third eye, actually, and why was he thinking about it? Surely the blood rushing in his head was making him lose coherence—

He blamed the pounding in his ears for missing the sound of steps that came from above him, loud (yet so very quiet) footfalls that echoed off the large walls of Mementos. It was lucky that he had good nerves, else he’d probably have jumped in surprise—a move that was  _ definitely _ not a good one considering his current position—when sudden words fell from the top of the cliff.

"Well well, what do we have here?"

That voice. A tinge of annoyance (no,  _ relief _ maybe?) began growing into his core as he heard that voice.  
The sneer was audible in the drawled-out sentence coming from above, and If Goro had the capability to think about more than getting out of this mess, he’d have been irritated— _ annoyed _ , at the very least. Still, his eyes cast over to the figure above him (below him? Being upside down was confusing and didn’t help his headache), a barely-there glare in his masked stare. 

"Got tired of being a fool, became a hanged man instead? Do you need help to reach the arcane that comes next, or should I just wait for the fabric holding you there to give out?"

Goro struggled to try and discern the figure that was looking down at him. Right now, hanging by the thread of his clothes, his hair splayed on the cold stone of the cliff that was digging into his hips, he felt pretty uncomfortable, what with his poor position and with the sudden presence that entered the fray.

But maybe it wasn’t  _ uncomfortable _ , exactly.

_ Vulnerable _ .

There it was.

He repressed a snarl and bit back a retort when a gloved hand suddenly came into his field of view. Curiously— _ cautiously _ —he watched as the dark fabric waved in nonchalance (almost as if he  _ teased _ Goro) before it crept closer and ever closer to him.

This fool was offering him ( _ him _ , of all people) help. 

“What now,  _ Hero _ , need a hand? Where are all your little friends when you find yourself in such a dire situation?”

The words, tainted with disdain, made Goro’s nerves tingle. He groaned and swabbed the hand away.  
Yup, he was definitely irritated now. The other boy could fuck right off.

_ Riiiip _

Alright, maybe that wasn’t his cleverest move. He winced as he felt the clothing slowly give, letting him fall one or two centimeters lower into the pit.

Still.

He had already found himself in  _ worse _ situations, he was sure, and he had definitely  _ never _ needed the help of a stranger. Especially not one that sounded so arrogant—a tone that even rivaled the one he heard on a near-daily basis, that made his teeth grind and his hands ball into subtle fists.

_ Shido,  _ his mind treacherously supplied.

Right, Shido sounded way more arrogant and despicable than the voice laced with venom that was mocking him from above— but he wasn’t  _ helping _ Goro. Goro was  _ using _ him.

“I’ve always done my best jobs  _ alone _ .”

“Oh, finally showing your true colors? We  _ might _ have something in common, after all…”

T he darkened silhouette chuckled and Goro couldn’t shake the feeling of  _ wrongness _ behind the whole situation. The voice from above was eerily familiar, but he couldn’t place it. The tones were wrong. He didn’t know this person. Maybe (just  _ maybe _ ) if there was the slightest bit of warmth and well-intentioned teasing in those words, he’d recognize it.

Doing his best to ignore the headache growing into the forefront of his head, Goro splayed his arms and tried to grasp at the rocks of the cliffs to balance himself. Maybe he could withstand the weight of his own body, pull himself up.  _ Surely _ he could make it by himself. He’d done it more times than he could count before.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

He reached for another side that protruded off the cliff.

_ Riiiiip _

“..Or that.”

With his free hand, he managed to flip the other off, grasping the edges with his gloved fingertips.

_ Riiiiiiip _

“ _ Definitely _ not that, either.”

Goro’s breaths heaved as he attempted to pull himself up.

“I don’t need your comments right now.”  
“But that’s part of the fun,  _ darling _ !” the other chuckled, the malice in his voice as thick as the tension present in Goro’s muscles.

_ Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiip _

He felt himself losing a few more centimeters, a curse spitting from beneath his breath.

_ Is this how it all ends? _

Goro tried to pull some strength from within, something—his hours at the bouldering gym, the years he built his strength from venturing within the depths of Mementos—but his head was a mess. So many voices seemed to be whispering at once, the noise of Mementos or the noise of his own mind, he wasn’t sure. So much information— _ too much _ information—but none useful, and he tried— he tried desperately to summon his persona (it could fly, surely? Could it? …wait, what  _ was _ his persona?) but to no real avail.

_ Riiip! _

And, ah, there it was. 

The long-awaited fall.

It was like living it in slow motion. Goro felt the final thread stretch and stretch, until it finally broke the tension, the  _ suspense _ , and  _ snapped _ . That was when the dive started.  
He braced himself on the poor purchase his hands had on the rocks, but his gloves were already slipping, and he felt himself, drop, drop—

_ Being barehanded would be better than this _ —

—until his fall came to an abrupt, body-jerking stop.

Instead of letting him fall to his death, the stranger from above had caught his coat and hauled him back forcefully, a quick pull up that almost made it feel like there was a split-second between him falling to his ugly demise, and coming to his feet upon the edge of the cliff he’d just found himself at the mercy of.  
Goro scrambled, almost tripped, still very close to the edge. For the first time, he managed to catch a glimpse of the stranger that had been talking down to him for these slow, excruciatingly long minutes— and when he did, he felt taken aback, surprise shooting through his brain and making it clear as day in his eyes.

The man was  _ powerful _ .

He wasn’t just  _ strong _ (because it required strength to pull someone Goro’s size up the way he just did,) he  _ exuded _ power. His body, clad in a tight black and blue suit, emanated a dark aura— one that Goro suspected he kept within a solid, iron-clad grasp, chaotic and wild and  _ controlled _ beneath that toothy smirk plastered upon his cheeks.

Beneath the pointy mask he was wearing, his eyes were glistening with knowledge and malice. It was a gaze that looked too sharp, too  _ cutting _ and  _ cunning _ . Goro thought it didn’t suit him, but at the same time...

Everything about him was so wrong, but even when the stranger showed off his sharp grin, Goro couldn’t pinpoint where this feeling of uneasiness and  _ wrongness _ festered from.

Things were in a loop, and it wasn’t just because he’d come from barely-brushing against Death.

“Ah, we can’t have you go down like this, can we?”

The stranger let go of the torn black coat, leaving it to fall along Goro’s leg, down to Goro’s pointy boots, and really, why was he wearing heels in Mementos?

Even if he’d sensed a deep distrust growing within him in the other’s presence, he allowed himself to be distracted enough for the other to get closer again, almost staunt against him.

“Because we  _ both _ know there’s only  _ one _ person that can be responsible for your fall...”

Suddenly, the inflection in the voice cleared the fog from Goro’s mind, and he  _ understood _ . Why didn’t he see it before— _ how _ couldn’t he have seen it before? How could he not have recognized those deep, velvety tones? That all-too-subtle cockiness? That so very  _ domineering _ way he spoke?  
Once again, his eyes snapped towards the man.

Akira Kurusu.

It was Kurusu who suddenly tore the domino mask from Goro’s face and forced him to face his glistening, victorious,  _ demented _ eyes, as he removed the torn black coat from Goro’s shoulder with a deft hand.

“...and it’s  _ me _ , Joker.”

Tt was Kurusu who smiled the most  _ dangerous _ smile.  
It was Kurusu who looked at him with those too-sharp, too- _ evil _ eyes.  
It was Kurusu who pulled him up—

“ _ Wh _ —!”

—and it was Kurusu who braced his hands upon Goro’s bare shoulders and _pushed him_.

No coat to snag on the cliff and save him this time.

No strength to intervene with his impending doom.

Goro fell.

Fell.

_ Fell _ .

He knew the feeling of falling. He had learned somersaults and he knew how to catch his falls.   
And even with all that knowledge, his  _ meek _ , human body gave way to gravity, braced himself for the ineluctable bone-crushing crash that would come after what seemed to be an eternity’s worth of  _ falling _ . 

He felt the air leave his lungs as he tried to picture himself somehow, miraculously, rolling and catching himself without breaking his neck, a nice reward for all those times he trained his body...

Physics says that a body falls faster and faster until air resistance makes it reaches its maximum velocity, which it keeps until the end—the crash.   
To Goro, it felt like his own fall had no terminal velocity: he kept going down, faster and faster, accelerating and yet never meeting the ground— and then his breath was stolen from his lungs to the point that he couldn’t even yell. He was getting lost in darkness. His eyes couldn’t see anymore but he could  _ feel _ it, the tight grip of incoming death on his throat and the ground that was coming at him, closer and closer and...

Goro woke up with a start, his body spasming with a jump and his heart racing. Faintly (clearing as quick as it’d become foggy) he felt pain digging into his head, sharp and piercing and all-encompassing as he made to grab at it.

He promptly sat up, just as promptly regretted this decision when dizziness struck him.  
His disorientation made it hard to figure out where he was, if he was right side up or upside-down, but he still managed to make a few observations.

One, he had his feet on the pillow

Two, his head was on the end of the bed

Three, the window was not his usual window, and the air was too dusty for his apartment.

Barely daring to look around (lest his worst expectations were confirmed) he still stole a glance over his surroundings, only coming to the crashing truth of reality once he settled upon the familiar, barely-holding furniture and the cracked walls.

He was in an attic.

He was in  _ Kurusu’s _ attic.

_ Fuck _ .

Why was he here?

_ Because I live here _ .

Was that right? This wasn’t  _ his _ attic, it was  _ Kurusu’s _ attic. He was here because of his one-year probation period. Yes, that was right... That was something he couldn’t deny.

But who was “ _ he” _ ?

Him.

_ Him _ was still uncertain.

Who lived in this attic because he was sent to Tokyo?

Goro tried to pull his knees up to his chest, place his feet upon the floor so he could better investigate just what the  _ Hell _ was going on and pace around his ( _ the _ ) room to think— and he would’ve gone straight to doing that even with the throbbing in his head, if it wasn’t for a paw that batted at his ankle sleepily.

“Go back to bed.. You have school tomorrow..”

_ Morgana? The  _ **_cat_ ** _? _

“What’s happ—”  
“ _ Go. To. Sleep.  _ And get your head back there, you almost kicked me off again.”

**_Again?_ **

The paw at his ankle curled, and Goro could feel the beginnings of Morgana’s sharp claws dig into his skin— a little threat that, he could admit, worked a few times before.

_ Wait, that’s not right. _

He’d never slept in Kurusu’s attic before.

_ No _ , he slept there every night.

The groan that rumbled in his throat caused the cat to press his claws just a  _ little _ harder into his ankle. Goro relented, if only because he didn’t want to have to go to Shujin tomorrow with a bloody ankle.

No, not  _ Shujin _ .

He kept the next groan to a lower volume in an attempt not to disturb his ( _ Kurusu’s _ ) cat further.

Climbing up to orient himself on the bed the right way this time, Goro fumbled around for his phone, eyes darting this way and that in search of it. When his fingers finally happened upon the device, he’d basically curled into himself as he navigated it, ran his eyes over the chipped white casing around the device, and unlocked the screen— with a passcode that, strangely, he’d never stored in the back of his head. He only tapped his fingers upon the keyboard in autopilot before he was taken straight to his messages.

_ Ah, I must’ve fallen asleep chatting with the others... _

The  _ others _ ?

Fuck this night. Goro’s head was going everywhere and nowhere at once, and it was making the headache worsen with each thought that popped into his subconscious.

**_Panther:  
_ ** **_Our leader probably fell asleep already. Morgana is there~_ **

**_Skull:  
_ ** **_but we still gotta find out why he’s been hanging out with ace defective!!!_ **

**_Oracle:  
_ ** **_im gonna agree with skull here  
_ ** **_we want answers, leader!!!!!_ **

Ryuji’s going to get a hit over the head tomorrow for calling him  _ ‘Ace Defective _ .’ Aside from being a weak insult, Akira wasn’t defective. Nowhere  _ near _ it.

Wait, not Akira.  _ Him _ .

_ Goro _ was Tokyo’s legendary Detective Prince. Akira was the attic trash of a criminal that was these people’s leader.

Akira?  _ Kurusu _ . Not Akira. They weren’t and never  _ will _ be on first-name bases.

“ _ Fuck _ this..”

Goro tried. He really  _ tried _ , for maybe half an hour, scrolling up and up on the group chat that belonged to the Phantom Thieves. He was not even going to  _ start _ trying to think of why he knew for certain that this was their ( _ excluding _ Goro, thank you very much) group chat, he just wanted to find Kurusu here—because  _ Kurusu _ was their leader.  _ Kurusu _ was their friend, not  _ Goro _ .

Even as he reached the very beginning of the chat log, Kurusu was nowhere to be seen.

The pain in his head had gotten  _ miles _ worse.

And then, his phone buzzed.

There was an uncertainty budding within him as he backed out of the group chat, his eyes staring at the lone unread message at the top of the list— a message from someone whose name shot chills to creep up his spine (not the pleasant kind), from someone who was the very core of the vigilante group of misfits (who was missing from their group chat).

A message from the last person he wanted to talk to (yet the first one all the same) due to all the circumstances that he’d just lived through these past... forty minutes.

With a deep breath in, and then an even deeper sigh out, he steeled his nerves and tapped upon the unread message.

****_Detective Prince (Akira Kurusu):_  
**_Hey, Akechi._ ** **_  
_ ** ****_Do you also sometimes feel like your life is all upside down and hanging by a thread?_

**Author's Note:**

> ...and scene! I'm sorry to say this is a one-shot, everyone. Everything else is up to your interpretation. We hope you liked it!
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH Eyrist for doing an amazing work, fixing my mistakes and adding so much flesh to a very basic story.
> 
> And happy Reverse Goro Day, everyone!
> 
> \-- Lia


End file.
